"No matter how deep our meditations, nor how severe our penances, how grand our liturgy, how pure our chant, how noble our thoughts about the mysteries of God—they are all useless if we do not really mean what we say."
—Thomas Merton
Building on yesterday’s reflection, we return to the words of Thomas Merton, and once again, he offers us a powerful insight: Prayer and devotion are empty if they’re not sincere.
It may sound dramatic — almost provocative. But Merton’s point isn’t really all that radical.
He’s not saying we must always “feel” what we pray. He’s not talking about those times of dryness, which everyone experiences. You can be dry in prayer and still be genuine. Merton is pointing to something different: saying words we don’t mean—essentially, letting our prayer become hollow, a kind of dishonesty before God.
This reminds us of Christ’s words: “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’”
So when we pray, may we come before God with sincerity, even if our hearts feel dry, trusting that He values our honesty more than our eloquence.